<Ebba> "This hardly seems to require all of us, but how can I pass up the opportunity to meet your brother?"

<Alexa> (Ah.)

<Hollyhock God> All the new babies are miraculous and thus unsuitable.

RyanSherbrig pops out a few floating light-eye-spirits and sets them to wandering the chancel.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "Yes. I shall attend as well, it will be good to walk the earth once more."

<Alexa> "I'm thinking we ought to stretch our legs. This Chancel is lovely, but we could get too used to it, you know?"

RyanSherbrig conjures drinks, and a comfy chair, in which to discuss things.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "Yes, yes, it's horribly convenient."

<Fiona> "I'm OK with helping."

<Ryan Sherbrig> "But, strength in adversity!"

<Alexa> (From an IC perspective, at least one of us should stay behind for security purposes, but that's not so much fun OOC.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (That's what the floating eyes are for.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (It's not like I have to pay extra for long-range realm miracles)

<Alexa> (And, come to think of it, having one Noble stay at home didn't work out for the First Lord.)

<Hollyhock God> He did not twink enough.

<Ebba> (And don't we have a volcano for that sort of thing?)

<Alexa> (Not yet!)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (The phoenix is a monstrous nightmare of mechanical imbalances!)

<Hollyhock God> Poor Monothaia got left behind in the Pacific.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "Where she will stay! Don't worry, I can adequately defend the chancel from a distance."

<Hollyhock God> Now all you need is a plane!

<Alexa> (Oh. No dragons big enough, yet, I guess.)

<Alexa> (And, hmm. Where do the Chancel's exits lead?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Italy, I think?)

<Hollyhock God> Mesopotamia. The fertile crescent.

<Hollyhock God> Wherever that is now.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Ah, yes.)

<Alexa> (Oh, boy.)

<Hollyhock God> All very jolly!

<Ryan Sherbrig> "So how do we want to get there? Chartering a plane? A shortcut through the Cityback? Chariot of fire?"

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Discreet cutscene?)

<Alexa> "I'll give you his address. He should have some flowers, though they might not be in good shape. Ryan and I can get there pretty quick."

<Alexa> "Ebba's the only one of us who needs a lift."

<Alexa> (Though as an Exemplar, maybe she could just run there in half an hour?)

<Hollyhock God> Probably.

<Ebba> (Leaving poor crazy people in my wake?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> She can also run with aspect-5 stealth!

<Ryan Sherbrig> Ninja her way there!

<Hollyhock God> Scale up; step; scale down.

<Alexa> (Or become a memetically-transferred belief, then call Samuel on his landline!)

<Hollyhock God> Just do it while everyone's head it turned.

<Alexa> (Wow, Ebba has a lot of neat tricks.)

RyanSherbrig gives a few people in London something to call the UFO hotline about, at any rate, and then assumes something like his normal form in a secluded area near his destination.

<Hollyhock God> Anyway, everybody arrives in London somehow within the hour.

<Ebba> (And in London, a telemarket is overcome by the sudden urge to rethink his life.)

<Hollyhock God> Now what?

RyanSherbrig adjusts his suit with just a hint of Glory and otherworldly magnificence, and knocks on the address in question.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Can prosaic people see my eye-spirits, or are they spirity?)

<Hollyhock God> They're visible.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Noted.)

Alexa jogs up behind Ryan.

<Hollyhock God> Samuel answers the door. "You must be Dominus Sherbrig. How pleasant to meet you."

<Hollyhock God> He speaks with the clipped, happy tones of one who's been warned about etiquette previously by his thoughtful sister.

<Alexa> "Hi, Sam."

RyanSherbrig nods.

<Alexa> (He's my Anchor — I can tell that it's actually him, right, and not a doppelganger or anything?)

<Hollyhock God> There can only be one, and this is he.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (He's a very reasonable fascimile made of clockwork and shadow)

Alexa hugs him.

<Hollyhock God> Samuel is crushed by your Aspect-y bear hug!

<Alexa> (This is somewhat uncharacteristic for her, but a few days ago she was thinking she might die in the Gardens and never see him again.)

<Hollyhock God> "You look shiny."

<Alexa> (Oops.)

<Alexa> "Yeah, Ryan's a bright chap."

<Ebba> "Hmpf, you should work on your veils more."

<Alexa> "And this is Ebba!"

<Ebba> "Remember how you blinded Ophelia by accident?"

<Alexa> "Ebba, meet Samuel. Samuel, meet Ebba."

<Ebba> "Pleased to meet you"

<Hollyhock God> Samuel is pleased to meet everybody.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "It's not as if I'm manifesting in raw elemental form."

<Ryan Sherbrig> "But anyway. Tell us the nature of these suspicious lawyers."

<Hollyhock God> "Well, it wouldn't be suspicious if they'd always been like that."

<Alexa> "I'll put the kettle on."

<Alexa> (AFK for a minute.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> "But as that's not the case, the adjective remains appropriate."

<Hollyhock God> "It just seems like sometime between last month and now the firm of Stingham & Grynne transformed from the cast of The Office to the cast of The O.C.."

<Hollyhock God> "Here, I took some pictures yesterday, discreetly."

<Ryan Sherbrig> (I picture Alexa just holding the tea kettle and lighting it on fire with her hands.)

<Hollyhock God> He calls up on his monitor a few grainy photo taken from a camera phone of some very good-looking young people in expensive clothes at a London wine bar.

<Hollyhock God> From a filing cabinet, he removes some old brochures advertising the services of Stingham & Grynne from the previous year.

<Hollyhock God> "See, here's a picture of Desmond Ragwort from last year," says Samuel, pointing to a figure in the background of a brochure photo. The figure is of a stringy twenty-something with greasy hair, bad teeth, and a sullen expression of conscious rectitude.

<Hollyhock God> "And this is the person who insisted he was Desmond Ragwort today." He points to a person who is about the same height, but is otherwise dissimilar. Shiny hair with product, well-filled-out torso, and a pleasantly cheeky grin.

<Hollyhock God> "I'm thinking it's a conspiracy to take over Chancery with robotic lawyers," says Sam. "But I'm no expert."

<Ryan Sherbrig> "Hmmm."

<Alexa> "Tea, coffee?" Alexa does the rounds.

<Ebba> "Perhaps it is Envy again?"

RyanSherbrig looks at the pictures with a bit of obvious displeasure, contemplating the possibilities.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "My first intinct, knowing our luck, was actually some faction of the Light setting about 'improving' humanity."

<Alexa> "Do they have a lot of high-profile clients? Specialise in a particular area of law?"

<Ryan Sherbrig> "Regardless, more investigation will obviously be called for."